2012 Recap: Presidential Election year brings changes in Logan County government (Audio included)

12/27/2012 9:22:48 PM

By Emily Evans

The year 2012 brought many changes in government at the local level.

In Logan County, longtime county recorder Linda Hanson (pictured left) announced she would retire at the end of December. Hanson cited family health concerns and pending changes to the state retirement system as reasons for her retirement.

Hanson was the county recorder for 12 years and has been with the downtown office for 27 years. She was just re-elected in November.

A permanent county recorder to replace Hanson has not yet been named by the Republican Central Committee. Pat Myers is currently serving as the interim county recorder.

Former Logan County Family Court Judge C. Douglas Chamberlain (pictured right) announced his retirement this July after more than 44 years of public service. Chamberlain, like Hanson, retired this year to ensure he received an annual three percent cost of living increase during his retirement before proposed changes to the state retirement system took place.

Chamberlain explains his sudden retirement and reflects on his many years of public service

Logan County Family Court Judge Dan Bratka (pictured left) was appointed to Chamberlain’s former post in September as an interim judge. He ran for the Family Court judgeship as the GOP candidate in November and won.

Bratka talks about being named by the GOP to run in November

Bratka had served under Chamberlain as Magistrate for nearly eight years.

Another change at the local level involved the resignation and replacement of former Logan County Auditor Rob Storm (pictured right). Storm announced his resignation in March citing personal reasons. His resignation followed a sexual harassment and hostile work environment complaint that was filed on January 23rd by an unnamed female employee.

Storm served as county auditor for just over 14 months. Before that, he was the Bellefontaine City Auditor for three years.

In April, former four-term Logan County Auditor Michael E. Yoder (pictured bottom left) was elected to replace Storm. Yoder defeated Audreau Coleman, wife of county engineer Scott Coleman, and Kyle Lentz, son of former mayor Robert Lentz.

Yoder talks about his appointment as Logan County Auditor

Logan County was left with new state legislators after new legislative maps were drawn this year. The new maps are based on data from the 2010 Census and they separate Logan and Union counties in House and Senate districts. The maps also separate Bokescreek, Richland and Rushcreek townships from the remainder of the county. This change leaves portions of two House and two Senate districts within the county.

Sen. Dave Burke and Rep. Dorothy Pelanda, who are both Republicans from Marysville, previously represented Logan, Union and part of Marion counties in the 83rd House District and 26th Senate District.

Now, the new 83rd District includes all of Hancock and Hardin counties as well as three townships in Logan County. Rep. Robert Cole Sprague (R-Findlay) was elected to this seat in November.

Sen. Cliff Hite (R-Findlay) won the 1st Senate District, which includes those townships and all or parts of Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Fulton, Williams, Defiance, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert and Auglaize counties.

Rep. John Adams (R-Sidney) represents the remainder of Logan County as well as Champaign County and part of Shelby County, which now makes up the 85th District.

Sen. Keith Faber (R-Celina) was elected to the 12th Senate District that is made up of most of Logan County and all or parts of Champaign, Shelby, Auglaize, Darke, Allen and Mercer counties.

At the state level, Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown won re-election against Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel after a harsh campaign battle.

Ohioans played an exciting role in national politics this year as 2012 was a Presidential Election year and Ohio was one of the swing states. Ohio was an important campaign stop for all presidential candidates. President Barack Obama as well as his GOP challenger Mitt Romney made multiple visits to the state in the final weeks leading up to Election Day.

Although President Obama did not win Logan or Champaign counties, the majority of Ohioan and American voters granted him a second term in November. President Obama won Ohio with 50.7 percent of the vote. At the national level, the President earned 332 electoral votes versus Mitt Romney’s 206 electoral votes. President Obama won the popular vote with 50.1 percent.